Editing Charles H. Percy (section)

===U.S. Senate===
After his daughter's death, Percy and his opponent both suspended campaigning for a couple of weeks following Valerie's death.<ref name="tribobit" /> He upset Democratic Senator [[Paul Douglas (Illinois politician)|Paul Douglas]] (a former professor of Percy's at the University of Chicago) with 56 percent of the vote.<ref name="murder">{{cite book|last1=Kenney, Hartley|first1=David, Robert E.|title=An Uncertain Tradition : U.S. Senators from Illinois, 1818-2003|date=2003|publisher=SIU Press|page=177|isbn=9780809389636|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tr0PpyV1lSoC&q=chuck+percy+1966+56+percent+senate&pg=PA177|access-date=September 16, 2015}}</ref>

After Percy appeared on the television show ''[[Face The Nation]]'' on January 15, 1967, with the other newly elected Republican Senators, the then President Lyndon Johnson noted privately that he thought Percy would make a fine president if the opportunity should ever arise.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.discoverlbj.org/item/pdd-19670115|title = President's Daily Diary entry, 1/15/1967 · Discover Production}}</ref>

On December 12, 1967, Senator Percy met with South Vietnamese President Thieu and assured him that "no responsible people in either the Democratic or the Republican Party favored US withdrawal from South Vietnam."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d436|title = Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume V, Vietnam, 1967 - Office of the Historian}}</ref>

In 1967, Senator Percy introduced a bill to establish a program to stimulate production of [[Affordable housing|low-cost housing]]. Percy's proposal was the first of its kind to provide home ownership to low-income families, and it received strong support from Republicans in both the House and the Senate, although it ultimately did not pass.<ref name=percy/> When asked why he selected housing for his first major legislative proposal, Percy said: "Of all the problems I ran across during three years of campaigning, first for the governorship and then for the Senate, the most appalling in their consequences for the future seemed to be the problems of the declining areas of the city and countryside, the inadequacy of housing."<ref name=percy/> Percy voted in favor of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1968]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/90-1968/s346|title=TO PASS H.R. 2516, A Bill to Prohibit Discrimination in Sale Or Rental of Housing, and to Prohibit Racially Motivated Interference With a Person Exercising His Civil Rights, and for Other Purposes.}}</ref> and the confirmation of [[Thurgood Marshall]] to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/90-1967/s176|title=Confirmation of Nomination of Thurgood Marshall, the First Negro Appointed to the Supreme Court.|work=GovTrack.us}}</ref> joined other [[Rockefeller Republican]]s in voting against the Supreme Court nominations of [[Clement Haynsworth]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voteview.com/rollcall/RS0910135|title=To Advise and Consent to Nomination of Clement Haynesworth, Jr. to Be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court|publisher=VoteView}}</ref> and [[G. Harrold Carswell|George Harrold Carswell]],<ref name="RECOMMIT">{{cite web|url=https://voteview.com/rollcall/RS0910357|title=To Consent to the Nomination of George Harrold Carswell to Be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court|publisher=VoteView}}</ref> but did vote for [[William Rehnquist]] in 1971.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voteview.com/rollcall/RS0920417|title=To Confirm the Nomination of William H. Rehnquist to Be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court|publisher=VoteView}}</ref>

When in the Senate less than two years, Percy was mentioned as a Republican hopeful for the 1968 presidential nomination. ''[[The New York Times]]'' columnist [[James B. Reston]] referred to him as "the hottest political article in the Republican Party".<ref name=nyt2011>{{cite news|last1=Clymer|first1=Adam|title=Charles Percy, Former Ill. Senator, Is Dead at 91|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/us/politics/charles-percy-former-illinois-senator-is-dead-at-91.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|access-date=October 14, 2014|work=The New York Times|date=September 17, 2011}}</ref> In 1970, Percy spoke about his enjoyment of ''[[The Autobiography of Malcolm X]]'', saying "Every white person should read it."<ref>''I can Hear it Now'': "The 1960s", an [[audio recording]] with [[Walter Cronkite]]</ref>

[[1972 United States Senate election in Illinois|In 1972]], Percy sought a second term to the Senate. In the general election, he defeated Congressman [[Roman Pucinski]] by a landslide. He gave up his seat on the important Senate Appropriations Committee for one on the Foreign Relations Committee.<ref name="tribobit"/>

Senator Percy in 1974 introduced legislation making the {{convert|55|mph}} national maximum speed limit permanent, which became law in January 1975, remaining in effect until it was amended in 1987 to allow {{convert|65|mph}} on rural Interstate highways and finally repealed in 1995.<ref>"The Percy Record", p. 8. Accessed from http://digitalcollections.librarycmu.edu/awweb/awarchive?type=file@item=608450{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In 1978, as Percy was completing his second term, he appeared invincible.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948264,00.html?promoid=googlep |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930041340/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948264,00.html?promoid=googlep |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |title=Percy's Problem |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=November 6, 1978 |access-date=July 21, 2009}}</ref> Percy was considered so strong that the Democratic Party was unable to persuade any serious candidates to challenge him in [[1978 United States Senate election in Illinois|that year's election]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/1978/ii780204.html <!-- |author-link=Al Manning presumably not the rugby player--> |first=Al |last=Manning |title=The slatemaking saga of Democrats — without Daley – Was anybody happy? |publisher=[[Northern Illinois University]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070913220210/http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/1978/ii780204.html |archive-date=September 13, 2007  }}</ref> [[Alex Seith]], a [[dark horse]] candidate, was his Democratic challenger. Seith had never before sought elected office but had served as an appointee on the [[Cook County, Illinois|Cook County]] Zoning Board of Appeals for twelve years, nine as chairman.

At that time, Percy's reputation as a moderate Rockefeller Republican, contrasted with Seith's ostensible hard-line [[foreign policy of the United States|foreign policy]] positions, combined to make Percy suddenly vulnerable in the weeks before the election. Percy had earlier worked to broaden the base of the Republican Party and was an outlier to more conservative elements.<ref name="tribobit"/> Sensing his probable loss, Percy went on television days before the polling and, with tear-filled eyes, pleaded with Illinois voters to give him another chance. He said, "I got your message and you're right&nbsp;... I'm sure that I've made my share of mistakes, but your priorities are mine."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://205.188.238.109/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948300-1,00.html |title=Got Your Message |magazine=Time |date=November 20, 1978 |access-date=July 21, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20071218142845/http://205.188.238.109/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948300-1,00.html |archive-date=December 18, 2007  }}</ref> He won re-election 53% to Seith's 46%.
[[File:Charles Percy, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, the Karmapa, Chogyam Trungpa.jpg|thumb|262x262px|1980 luncheon in honor of the [[Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa|16th Karmapa]] (Rangjung Rigpe Dorje) at the U S Capitol. [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan Buddhists]] (seated left to right) [[Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche]], 16th Karmapa, [[Chogyam Trungpa]]. Standing is an unknown translator and Senator Charles Percy, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee|alt=]]
After the Republicans won control of the Senate in 1980, Percy became chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. That year he gave a luncheon in honor of the 16th Karmapa of Tibet at the United States Capitol with other Tibetan Buddhists and congressmen. He served in the Senate until the end of his third term in January 1985, after narrowly losing to Congressman [[Paul Simon (politician)|Paul Simon]] in [[1984 United States Senate election in Illinois|1984]]. Critics had accused Percy of paying more attention to foreign affairs than to the domestic issues of his constituents.<ref name="tribobit"/> After Percy's defeat, no Republican would win a senatorial race in Illinois until [[Peter Fitzgerald (politician)|Peter Fitzgerald]] [[1998 United States Senate election in Illinois|in 1998]], and no Republican would ever win Percy's old seat again.

In 2006, writing about the influence of political lobbies on the U.S. relationship with [[Israel]], political theorists [[John Mearsheimer]] and [[Stephen Walt]] wrote that they believed Percy's loss was the result of a campaign waged against him by the [[American Israel Public Affairs Committee]] (AIPAC).<ref name="LRB">{{cite journal |url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/john-mearsheimer/the-israel-lobby |author-link1=John Mearsheimer |first1=John |last1=Mearsheimer |author-link2=Stephen Walt |first2=Stephen |last2=Walt |title=The Israel Lobby |journal=[[London Review of Books]] |volume=28 |issue=6 |date=March 23, 2006 |access-date=September 6, 2011 |quote=[[Thomas A. Dine]], the president of AIPAC, said, "All Jews from coast to coast gathered to oust Percy. And the American politicians – those who hold public positions now, and those who aspire – got the message."}}</ref> They note that despite a generally pro-Israel voting record, Percy incurred AIPAC's wrath by declining to sign the AIPAC-sponsored "Letter of 76" protesting President Ford's threatened "reassessment" of U.S. Middle East policy in 1975. Percy also called PLO leader [[Yasser Arafat]] more "moderate" than some other Palestinians. Earlier that year, Percy and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, [[Dante Fascell]] argued that [[Karl Linnas]], a former concentration camp commander who was to be deported from Pennsylvania to Estonia who lied in the papers he used to enter the United States, should not be sent to the Soviet Union. Linnas was found to have ordered, and participated in, the murders of Jews and other prisoners.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hYNGAAAAIBAJ&pg=2966,1239299|title=D'Amato disowns letter|author=Jack Anderson|newspaper=The Evening News (Newburgh, NY)|date=January 14, 1985|page=4}}</ref> Percy's view, shared by Fascell, Representative [[Donald L. Ritter]] of Pennsylvania, and the [[Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe|Helsinki Commission]], was that Linnas should be deported, just not to the Soviet Union as it “would be an acknowledgement that the USSR has formally taken over Estonia.”

While in the Senate, Percy was active in business and international affairs. Although he explored the possibility of running for president in both 1968 and 1976, he did not run either time. During the early 1970s, he clashed with President Nixon and criticized the U.S. conduct of the [[Vietnam War]].

In 1977, Percy and Sen. [[Hubert H. Humphrey]]—responding to the 1973 OPEC oil embargo and high energy prices in general—created the [[Alliance to Save Energy]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ase.org/about-us/our-history |title=Our History |work=Alliance To Save Energy | access-date=September 20, 2011}}</ref> to encourage a national commitment to energy efficiency. Percy was the founding chairman of the organization.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ase.org/about-us/our-board-directors |title=Board of Directors |work=Alliance To Save Energy | access-date=September 20, 2011}}</ref>

Percy was mentioned again for the presidency in 1980 and 1988, but his candidacies did not progress beyond the exploratory stage.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} In 1981, three congressional staffers (Bill Strauss, Elaina Newport, and Jim Aidala) of Percy's Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Government Processes formed the political-satire group the [[Capitol Steps]], which performed for 40 years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2004/01/25/elaina-newport-co-founder-the-capitol-steps-comedy-troupe-washington/b0040c1d-389e-42ef-9562-0a4ee995853b/|title=Elaina Newport, Co-Founder, the Capitol Steps comedy troupe, Washington|date=January 25, 2004|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=May 11, 2022|author=Julia Wilkinson}}</ref>

Perhaps Percy's most important act, and his longest-lasting legacy, was ending the practice of nominating [[United States federal judge|federal judges]] from a pool of candidates generated by the Chicago political machine. He implemented a system of consultation with, and advice from, groups of legal experts, including the professional bar association, a practice considered novel at the time.<ref name="Littlewood"/> One of his nominees, [[John Paul Stevens]], was selected by President [[Gerald Ford]] as a justice of the [[United States Supreme Court]].<ref name="Littlewood">{{cite journal |first=Tom |last=Littlewood |url=http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/1976/ii760431.html |title=How Sen. Percy exercises prerogative in nominating judgeship candidates |journal=Illinois Issues |issue=4 |volume=II |date=April 1976 |access-date=July 21, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060910134937/http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/1976/ii760431.html |archive-date=September 10, 2006  }}</ref>